Arctic Sea ice and atmospheric circulation anomalies since 1954

• Main Author: Slonosky, Victoria C.
• Other Authors: Derome, J. (advisor), Mysak, L. A. (advisor)
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: McGill University 1996
• Subjects: Physical Oceanography; Physics; Atmospheric Science; Arctic; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=26663

The relationship between Arctic sea ice concentration anomalies, particularly those associated with the "Great Salinity Anomaly" of 1968-1982, and atmospheric circulation anomalies is investigated. Empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analyses are performed on winter and summer sea ice concentrations, sea-level pressure, 500 hPa heights and 850 hPa temperatures: these data cover the Northern Hemisphere north of 45$ sp circ$N during the post-World War II era. Spatial maps of temporal correlation coefficients between EOF 1 of winter sea ice concentration and the atmospheric anomaly fields are calculated. Significant correlations (at 95 and 99% levels) were found to exist between EOF 1 of winter sea ice and the atmospheric anomaly fields at zero lag, and with ice leading by one and one-and-a-half years, and ice lagging by one year. The main emphasis of the thesis is to identify connections between Arctic sea ice and atmospheric circulation anomalies at interannual timescales.